Councillor’s Trolley Scrapping Plan attacks Quality of Downtown Life and Future of Transit

Councillor Kim Krushell is taking another swing at the
electric trolley buses that serve in 46 central
Edmonton neighborhoods. Based on an enquiry into
trolley costs, she's claiming the trolley system is
expensive and wants it scrapped.

"In the face of soaring oil prices and growth in the
number of trolley systems worldwide, this continued
push to scrap our trolleys is really giving Edmonton a
bad name," says Brian Tucker, Chair of the Edmonton Trolley Coalition. "On one hand we’re concerned about
diesel fumes and what they do to our health. We face
growing traffic noise issues, and we want to
revitalize downtown. Yet we’re trying to eliminate
the only vehicle on city streets other than the
bicycle that doesn’t emit fumes and runs in near
silence. There’s something wrong with this picture."
Tucker says the trolley bus has qualities that are
priceless when you look at creating a positive image
for our growing downtown and its surrounding
neighborhoods. "All Edmontonians benefit from a city
centre that is cleaner and quieter."

Krushell’s enquiry states it will cost $7 million to
run the trolleys over a three-year period, and even
more to replace some components of the system. "But
there’s a problem with Krushell’s logic," says James
Dobbie, Vice-Chair of the group Citizens for Better Transit. "She only looked into trolley costs. She
didn’t look at the costs and losses to the city if we
tear down the trolley system and replace it with
diesel buses." The 140 km system of overhead wires
and power infrastructure has a value of $89 million
according to the city’s 2006 Asset Inventory. "With
over $12 million in recent improvements to the system,
including a brand new power substation in Rossdale,
we’d be taking a big loss in tossing out a huge
asset," says Dobbie. "And what’s worse, taxpayers
will get soaked for $15 to 20 million to tear it all
down, plus another $20 million to buy the diesel buses
to replace the trolleys."

Dobbie points out the city just spent money
refurbishing 10 trolleys in the past few months,
expecting to continue using them for another five
years. "That’s another lost investment."

Oil prices have risen 200% since 2003 and diesel bus
services around the world are suffering. Alberta
electricity prices, by contrast, have fluctuated
within a relatively small 30% margin over the past
five years. "A fool puts all his money into diesel
buses and casts off a perfectly good electric bus
system", says Dobbie.

But Krushell says the trolleys are old and need to be
replaced soon, and buying new trolleys would cost
twice as much as new diesels. "New trolleys may cost
more to buy, but that investment lasts a lot longer
than diesel buses. You’re looking at about 18 years
for a diesel compared to 25-28 years for a trolley,"
says Bob Clark, retired supervisor of transit planning
at ETS. Throughout their lifetime, trolleys need far
less maintenance than diesels. Trolleys don’t need
refuelling, and there’s no oil and fluids to change.
The electric motors usually last the life of the bus,
whereas a diesel bus goes through several engines and
transmissions in its lifetime."

Trolley buses also attract more riders than diesels,
asserts Clark. "That is the consensus of research by
leading authorities on public transit. Modern low
floor trolley buses like Vancouver is getting attract
anywhere from 5 to 20% more ridership to transit.
That’s an important factor when you are looking at
relieving traffic congestion and increasing transit
revenue." All things considered, trolleys are cost
competitive with diesel, he adds.

Marten Boonstra, a resident of the Inglewood
community, says he’s all for getting new low floor
trolleys. "I’ve ridden on them in other cities. You
have to make a good investment to get a good system.
We already have the trolley wires, new trolleys would
be a huge improvement to transit and our city. We
need to keep moving in this direction."

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